NRO should be approved by parliament: SCP

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has made parliaments approval for National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) compulsory. In case parliament does not approve the ordinance, all the cases including on President Asif Zardari abandoned under NRO would be reopened. In the detailed verdict against the imposition of emergency in the country on November 3, 2007 by then President Pervez Musharraf, the SC declared that all the ordinances during Musharrafs regime protected by NRO need parliaments approval. The verdict also states that any ordinance issued by the president becomes legally invalid if it is not presented before National Assembly or both houses of parliament within four months. NRO was issued on October 6, 2007 but has not been presented before the parliament yet. The SC directed to take formal approval of NRO from the parliament; however, the parliament reserves the right to review any of its own decisions. Talking to Dunya News on the issue, Secretary Information PML-N Ahsan Iqbal said that NRO could not be endorsed under any constitution, law or procedure as it was a discriminatory law that differentiates common man from certain group of people. No democratic party that is part of the parliament can endorse such a discriminatory law, he added. Justice (R) Wajihuddin while talking to Dunya News reinforced that if an ordinance could not be tabled in the parliament after certain time, all the cases could be reopened. MQM leader Farooq Sattar told Dunya News that his party respected all the decisions of the court, adding that PML-N did not oppose NRO when it was issued.